Rush Week Blu-ray Review

THE MOVIE — 2¼/5

Plot Synopsis: Toni Daniels (PAMELA LUDWIG) is an ambitious young journalist working for her college newspaper. Tired of covering the same boring stories as her peers, Toni becomes intrigued by the recent disappearances of several female students and believes that they may be linked to an on-campus murder that happened the previous year during the college’s raucous Rush Week. Despite being certain that something terrible has been happening on campus, no one she talks to is willing to admit that the disappearances are cause for concern.

Undeterred, Toni decides to investigate the mystery on her own, but before long finds herself becoming embroiled in a twist filled saga of deeply buried, and bloody secrets which attract the attention of a sadistic killer who will stop at nothing to hide the truth.

Note: This portion contains some plot spoilers.

Quick Hit Review: Rush Week was released in 1991 stateside (late ’89 in the UK), much after the slasher genre had tired-out its welcome amongst audiences. Watching, outside of some gratuitous boob shots, it’s relatively safe with little gore or violence, so not entirely sure who this was aimed at. It’s not titillating enough for those in their 20s, not gory enough for any gore-hounds, and not mysterious enough for the crime-enthusiast of the time.

Rush Week seems to be a little bit of Nancy Drew, Scooby-Doo and those tween-targeted R.L. Stine murder-mystery books (and I admit to reading quite a few of those Fear Street novels), where the villain is very easy to predict, which was the case here, thus removing the mystery element and you’re left with  some rather boring scenes and lame red herrings. The film also lacks any genuinely good-bad moments. I snickered a time or two like when our lead is typing but only her right-hand typing on the half of the keyboard or one character inexplicably wearing a nearly identical cloak as our serial killer, for… reasons.

The on the more positive front, Pamela Ludwig made for a good lead and doing her best with a second-rate script, and she does stand out compared with some of her co-stars, take that for what you will. The top billed actor, Dean Hamilton, does make for a top-notch red herring, his character bolting out just when a coed is slaughtered. Hamilton’s chemistry with Ludwig on the other hand is lacking.

Rush Week is a movie that came out 10 years too late and has rightfully been lost amongst the numerous other lackluster slashers that came in the wake of Halloween and Friday the 13th. It’s not bad but can’t muster enough to make a recommendation.

SPECIAL FEATURES – 2½/5

The Limited Edition comes with a slip cover. The copy provided is the standard version without, but everything else is the same including a reversible sleeve, which I personally prefer.

Audio Commentary with The Hysteria Continues, who have a podcast and previously contributed commentaries on other Vinegar Syndrome releases. The group discuss background on the movie and analyze certain scenes. While I like these guys, there are many silent spots, almost as if they didn’t have a whole lot to say about a movie like this.

Interviews:

• “So 80’s” (12:52) — Actress Courtney Gebhart
• “Still Dean Hamilton” (12:58) — Actor Dean Hamilton

Neither of the interviews were all that fascinating but they do reflect on filming Rush Week and how they came to their respective roles.

VIDEO – 4¾/5

AUDIO – 4½/5

OVERALL – 3/5

Overall, Rush Week is one of those quintessential movies that gets lost in the shuffle and frankly, while not bad and actually competently edited and directed, deserves to be amongst the forgotten horror-slashers.